Mary Cox Greytak 1922-2024 ….

Mary Cox Greytak 1922-2024

Friendly and witty would describe Mary Cox Greytak (nee Duitz), 102, who passed away on May 28, 2024, in Seal Beach.

She was born on April 28, 1922, in Jeffersonville, Indiana, to Leo and Mary Duitz. The third of four girls, Mary had a wonderful childhood. After high school she attended secretarial school and became a reporter for the Jeffersonville Times.

While volunteering for the United Service Organizations (USO), Mary met J. Claude Cox in Jeffersonville. They married October 1945. Immediately after the wedding, they moved to El Monte, California, to live with his parents.

Later, they moved to Baldwin Park, California, and were blessed with a son, Wayne Bruce. Forty months later, they welcomed their daughter, Dee Mary.

Mary was an office manager for State Farm, a job she loved for 50 years. Mary and Claude were active square dancers and had many leadership responsibilities and a sense of adventure they visited 49 states.

At the passing of her wonderful husband in September 1983, Mary moved to Orange, California, to live with her daughter.

In 1999, Mary moved to Mutual 9 in Leisure World. Mary joined the Cribbage Club, where she met many friends and her future husband, Roger Wieber. Mary shared 18 months with this friendly, personable, romantic man. They were active in many LW activities before Roger’s passing in 2002.

Widowhood was not God’s plan, and while attending Cribbage Club, Mary met and married Gary Greytak. She and Gary had a wonderful time together in LW. They attended Holy Family Catholic Church, the Friendly Couples Club, volunteered in Meals on Wheels, shared in Mutual director responsibilities, and were officers in the Cribbage Club. The two of them aged with grace, calling Gary’s oxygen machine “Jezebel” and Mary’s walker “George.” Making light of hard things was their way of carrying burdens.

Mary loved her family. Celebrating together was a high priority, and balancing a spoon on your nose was a family tradition at many gatherings.

Mary leaves behind daughter, Dee (Brian); daughter-inlaw, Sue; sister, Alice Joy; three granddaughters, Stephanie, Wendy and Kelly; and four great-grandchildren, Lance, Ryan, Mitchell and Rachel. Mary was preceded in death by husbands, Claude, Roger, Gary, her son Wayne, and her sisters, Dorothy and Leola.

Services for Mary will be held on June 29 at 11 a.m. at Holy Family Church. A celebration of life will follow the service at LW Community Church.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Mary Greytak to the USO, P.O. box 96860 Washington, D.C., 20077-7677.

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